The Knight of Azteca by Nick Venom (book series for 12 year olds .txt) 📕

Once he discovered the stairs, he noticed drops of blood, scattered, on the stairs, leading to the next floor where ‘Skeleton Warriors’ hid to ambush him. The knight followed the blood trail to a bloody corpse sitting against the wall. The knight crouched down to meet the corpse’s eyes, tilting his head to the right. He inspected the corpse, pressing his hand on the corpse’s heart and feeling its fleeting pumps. He pressed two fingers to the corpse's neck, detecting a dying pulse. The knight grabbed the corpse and threw it on his shoulder, carrying the corpse out of the dungeon. The guards stopped him at the entrance but allowed him through after realizing the state that the corpse was in. The knight ran at full speed to reach the town clinic, taking the corpse to the priests. The priests healed the corpse, charging the knight a few coppers and directed him to take the corpse to the nearby orphanage, Holy Garden. The knight followed their directions and met with the orphanage’s director, Mary Wish. 

“Thank you so much for bringing him home safely!” Mary exclaimed, tears streaming down her face. I didn’t think I would ever see him again!” 

“You’re welcome,” The knight muttered, turning to walk away when screams of joy and loud sobs erupted from the orphanage’s main doors, grabbing his attention. 

“Children, return to your rooms. Sal will be with you in a minute,” Mary told them. An orphanage worker rushed outside to usher the crying children into the orphanage. Sal---the near-dead corpse that the knight discovered---awoken to the crying of the children. He stood up from his crouched position and scanned his surroundings, detecting the knight’s presence. 

“You’re the one who saved me?” Sal asked the knight. The knight nodded his head. “I thank you for that. If it wasn’t for you, then I would’ve died out there.” He declared. The knight nodded his head, turning away from them. “Can I get your name?”

“... One,” The knight muttered before walking off, leaving Mary and Sal behind, confused. 

“If you ever need a heal, then come to me and I’ll do it for free. Consider it a favor,” Sal shouted. Sal watched the knight disappear from his line of eyesight, remarking: “What a strange person.”

“Don’t say that about your savior!” Mary shouted.

“I’m not trash-talking to him… I think he’s unique… in a good way.”

TBC…

The knight went back into the dungeon and managed to clear out the remaining floors of skeleton evolutions. Once he completed his task of clearing the rank E dungeon, he decided to return home and, later, sell the crystals for money. He needed money to afford healing and lightweight potions. After encountering Sal in a state of near-death, the knight decided on purchasing potions to improve his speed and strength, ensuring that he won’t land himself in the same position as Sal. 

The knight headed home to take a short nap before heading to the marketplace. Unfortunately, he was prevented from doing so due to a carriage that rode past him was under attack by a group of bandits. The carriage’s driver attempted to lead the carriage away from the bandits, but they were too close to avoid. The knight sprinted towards the carriage, brandishing his sword. The bandits didn’t detect the knight’s presence and focused on the carriage, tearing holes into the thin cloth that covered the roof and acted like an outer shell.  The driver shouted out to nobody in particular for help, yelling his lungs out. 

The bandits’ leader was a muscular man who wore tattered black clothes and an eyepatch. He shouted for his men to slaughter the driver and take the carriage’s inventory. The knight overheard the plans, interrupting them by slashing the leader’s head off using a wind skill that the knight rarely used. He slashed at the air, allowing his skill ‘Wind Slash’ to carry the slash through the wind towards his target. The slash killed the leader and was followed by several more Wind Slashes, leading to the entire bandit party being wiped out. The driver noticed the dead bandits and slowed to a stop, allowing the knight to catch up. “Thanks for your help, adventurer.” The driver said. The driver jumped off the carriage and landed on the ground with a small ‘thud’ sound.  He faced the knight, waiting for some kind of response but wouldn’t get one from him. “Well… anyways, I’m a slave trader.” He said as he opened the curtains that acted as the doors, revealing two lines of slaves of different genders, species, and physical traits. “Pick any one that you like.”

The knight jumped into the carriage and quickly inspected each slave, finding a badly wounded one in the back of the line. The slave looked to be of the angel race and had numerous burn scars scattered all over her body. Her wings and one side of her face were burnt off, scaring off potential customers. Somehow, the knight wasn’t disgusted by the slave’s burnt body, instead choosing her as his reward. The slave trader raised his eyebrows at his choice but shrugged his shoulders as he walked over the front of the carriage to grab the paperwork necessary to have a slave. The knight then jumped off the carriage with the burnt angel following behind him. The slave trader handed the knight paperwork to sign before handing over an identification card. The identification card listed the slave’s name---Roxy---and her physical traits; pale skin, light green eyes, white straight hair that extends to her chest, white wings that extends two and a half feet on each side, 5’7, and 90 pounds. The knight nodded before walking away from the carriage with Roxy, leaving the slave trader by himself as he prepared the carriage for his re-departure. 

Meanwhile, the knight traveled to the orphanage to cash in a favor. Once there, Sal figured out the situation quickly and healed Roxy, putting the knight and Sal on equal terms. “Her body needs time to regenerate, but, at the very least, she won’t die. Give her a week and her wings will begin to reform, but don’t push her until then. Her body needs plenty of time to fully heal.”

“Your heal doesn’t fix it?” The knight muttered. 

Sal was taken aback by the knight’s ability to speak. “Uh… no, it’s a mid-tier heal spell. You need ‘Absolute Heal’ to completely repair her body.” The knight nodded and turned around, beckoning for Roxy to follow him.

“Thank you, Sal.” The knight whispered before leaving Sal’s eyesight. Sal froze, stunned at his words, before softly chuckling to himself.

“He really is a strange person… a unique man.”

TBC…

A week and a half passed before Roxie recovered from the burn scars inflicted on her porcelain skin. During that time, the knight pushed himself to conquer the nearby dungeons before Roxie’s full recovery. Once Roxie’s burn scars disappeared, the knight took her to the adventurer guard to create an identification card for her. At the guild waiting for him were the two receptionists he’d met, Lindsay and Betty. Lindsay called out to him, waving her arms wildly which brought glares from lustful and jealous adventurers. “Your back for another quest?” Lindsay asked. The knight shook his head before pointing at Roxie. “Oh… ” Her look of delight, suddenly, turned into disgust. “... you want to register her?” The knight shook his head. “Ugh, fine… can you tell me her details?”

The knight motioned for Roxie to talk. “My name is Roxie and I’m from the Angel race,” Roxie informed her.

“Might I ask about your wings?”

Roxie cringed before looking away from her. “No,” muttered the knight in a coarse and harsh voice. Lindsay flinched at his voice, nervously, nodding her head before writing Roxie’s information into her identification card. 

“Here’s your identification card. Wish for me to tell her about the ranking system?” Lindsy asked while resting her intertwined fingers on her table. The knight shook his head before motioning for Roxie to follow him out of the building. 

Once they left, Lindsay turned to Betty. “Something seems off,”

“Didn’t the Lord tell you not to interfere with him? Accept his quests and be there if he has any questions. Don’t mess with him any more than that.” Betty told her.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

The knight took Roxie to the Rookie Dungeon to begin her training. Before arriving at the dungeon, the knight handed her a bronze dagger. “Use this,” He told her. She nodded and snatched the dagger, concealing it in her pocket. “Let’s go.” 

He led Roxie into the first floor of the dungeon. He introduced Roxie to the first floor’s monster, Horned Rabbits. “Five,” he remarked while pointing at the monsters. Roxie nodded. She gripped her dagger tightly as she sprinted towards a Horned Rabbit. The rabbit detected her presence and teamed up with the other rabbits to prepare a counterattack. Roxie slashed as the rabbits, but the attack missed, allowing the rabbits to strike and pummel her with punches and jabs. Some of the rabbits used their horns to pierce her skin while others threw their body at her, taking the wind out of the weakening Roxie. The knight shook his head while watching Roxie being overwhelmed. He brandished his sword and crept closer to the rabbits. He raised his sword and waited for the perfect moment to attack. Fortunately, the rabbits gave him this opportunity by jumping into the air. The knight slashed the rabbits., decapitating them, with the help of Wind Slash. 

“Get up,” He muttered to Roxie. She nodded and stood up; puncture wounds and bruises staining her body. He pointed at a few stragglers that appeared in front of them. “Kill!” Roxie gripped the dagger tightly and nodded. She dashed towards the rabbit with her dagger outstretched. 

The